Friday, 17 March 2017

SULLIVAN CHIME DUMPS PDP FOR APC

Indications emerged on Friday that a former governor of Enugu State,
Sullivan Chime, has commenced moves to defect to the All Progressives
Congress.

Chime served as the governor of Enugu State on the platform of the Peoples Democratic Party from 2007 to 2015.

The former governor has made few public appearances since he handed
over to his successor, Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi, also of the PDP, but it was
learnt that he has now decided to follow the footsteps of prominent
Enugu politicians by moving to the APC.

Chime’s move to the
APC was disclosed by the spokesman of the APC in the South-East, Mr
Hyacinth Ngwu, in a post on his Facebook page, late on Thursday night.

Ngwu went ahead to defend Chime’s move to the APC,
after some Facebook users, who commented on the post, insinuated that
Chime’s defection was informed by a desire to escape prosecution by the
Economic and Financial Crimes Commission.

The former governor had
been linked to the N23bn campaign fund money involving former Petroleum
Resources minister, Mrs Dieziani Alison-Madueke.

Defending
Chime’s defection to the APC, Ngwu, again posted on his timeline, “I
wonder how some of the opposite politicians talk. If their member is
questioned by EFCC or ICPC or invited by the Police, they will shout to
the heavens, ‘victimisation, oppression of political opponents’.

“But when the same person defects to (APC), a better party with vision
for Nigeria, they roar that the same defected to avoid interrogation by
EFCC, ICPC or the Police. Haba, which way my people?”
However,
when contacted by our correspondent on Friday, Ngwu gave indications
that Chime has yet to finalise his defection to the APC.

But he noted that the former governor had reached out to the party and that consultations are ongoing on the matter.

Ngwu said an official statement would be issued on the defection when
Chime completes the formalities involved in the switch to the APC.

“He has started discussions with us, whenever he is going to declare, I will let you know.

“Consultations are still going on,” he told our correspondent on the telephone.

Sources in Chime’s camp suggested on Friday that the former governor
intends to seek the realisation of his ambition to go to the Senate on
the platform of the APC in 2019.

The development will pitch him
against Deputy Senate President, Ike Ekweremadu, for the ticket to
represent Enugu West Senatorial Zone in the National Assembly.

Chime had nursed hopes of proceeding to the Senate at the expiration of
his tenure as governor in 2015, but his moves to unseat Ekweremadu
failed.

In what was then seen as a face-saving move, Chime had to
withdraw from the Senatorial race after it became apparent that
Ekweremadu has an upper hand in the contest.

It’s is believed
that the move to the APC would set the stage for another political war
between the former governor and the Deputy Senate President in 2019.

But, in the same vein, there were insinuations in Enugu on Friday that
the former governor was moving to the APC in order to ‘escape’
prosecution by the EFCC.

Allegations that Chime had received
N450m out of the N23bn disbursed by Dieziani Alison-Madueke is the
subject of an ongoing investigation by the EFCC.

The anti-graft agency had already quizzed Chime over the matter.

Also, some Enugu State Government officials, who also served during
Chime’s administration, were arrested by the EFCC in connection with the
investigations.

The officials are Commissioner for Water
Resources, Chief Charles Egumgbe, who was the chairman of the PDP
campaign office in the state during the 2015 polls, Commissioner for
Tourism, Rita Mba, who served as the Secretary, and Chief Ikeje Asogwa,
Chairman of the Enugu State Universal Basic Education Board, who was PDP
state chairman during the 2015 polls.

When he was initially
quizzed by the EFCC over the campaign fund, Chime reportedly told
detectives that he handed over the money to the secretary of the
campaign office, Mba, who was also the state’s Commissioner for Special
Duties and Inter-Government Affairs at the time.

Chime allegedly
explained that the money was brought by two of his former commissioners,
Joe Nmamnel and Mba, in company with Asogwa and a PDP chieftain, Prof.
Osita Ogbu.

The former governor was said to have stated that he
gave the money to his orderly for safe keep, with instructions that only
Mba should have access to it to facilitate her work as secretary of the
campaign office.

Although the EFCC zonal head, South-East zone,
Mr Johnson Babalola, had in October 2016 disclosed that the anti-graft
agency was investigating the matter, Chime and the concerned officials
are yet to be charged to court.

Also, EFCC is yet to prosecute
Chime over a litany of allegations bordering on official corruption
contained in a petition by a former PDP National Auditor, Barrister Ray
Nnaji, who had gone to court to compel the anti-graft agency to
investigate the claims.

Reacting to Chime’s move to the APC in a
chat on Friday, Nnaji said the former governor
was trying to evade prosecution.

Speaking on the telephone, Nnaji
said, “Hearing that Sullivan Chime is joining APC is not surprising
because the EFCC is seriously investigating his criminal activities in
the state.

“So he is looking for shelter to take cover from
prosecution, which others had done in the past. But joining APC will not
save him from prosecution.

“PDP will not miss him; he has nothing to offer.”

Efforts to get Chime’s reaction were not successful, as at the time of filing this report.

Chime’s impending move to the APC follows a prevailing trend, which has
seen some leading Enugu politicians defecting from PDP to the APC.

Already, a former governor and information minister, Chief Jim Nwobodo,
and a former Senate President, Chief Ken Nnamani, had registered as
members of the APC, after dumping the PDP.

Also, a former Speaker
of the Enugu State House of Assembly, Mr Eugene Odo, has joined the
APC, alongside several other prominent politicians.

Having been
dominated by the PDP with little or no opposition since 1999, Enugu was
regarded as a ‘PDP state’, but the prevailing, mass defection to the APC
suggests that future elections in the state would not be business as
usual for the PDP.